Mark your calendars eco-peeps! Green Halloween, in collaboration with Kiwi Magazine and Swap.com have been busy little bees lately with “National Costume Swap Day, October 9th, 2010!!! Their “grassroots initiative” in raising awareness and encouraging all of us to have a healthier Halloween is all the rage – and it’s only 14 days away!!
Green Halloween is a non-profit campaign, set to inspire us to make choices that are both people and Earth friendly. “Halloween is a beginning. It offers a platform for us to focus attention not just on this holiday, but on how we have become consumers of things that do all of us harm. So it’s not about one day, but about changing a lifetime one step and one holiday at a time.”
I really love their advice, “Start with whatever idea sounds fun to you and your children” because being green and healthy sustainable choices should not require us to live a boring life. Who wants that? I am all for fun and am pretty darn sure that most kids prefer it that way too! So what a great way to combine a good time with a green time!
What is a costume swap? Costume swaps can be so much fun, by creating a small neighborhood exchange of pre-owned costumes or as big as a city-wide exchange! The possibilities are endless, and ultimately means less resources used in the production of new costumes, less environmental damage due to transportation of these to stores nationwide, less packaging (cardboard, paper, plastic) and finally – less trash at the end of the day in our landfills!
Check out ideas on how you too can join in and participate in a local costume exchange by creating one in your town, finding one near your home or locate an online swap. They have all you need to learn how to make a difference in your community, save money, protect the planet and have a super fun Halloween too!
I’d love to hear your suggestions and thoughts on how to green Halloween! What are some of the ways you celebrate green or maybe you have a question on how to become more eco-friendly at the holidays? Comment away – you always make me smile when you leave me a note
Happy Green Smiles!
P.S. Happy Eeeek-O-Friendly Halloween 
Wow! What a great idea! Why spend so much money on a Halloween costume that will be worn once then never looked at again? I love this! Hey, in fact, they should do this for wedding dresses too!
Hey Robin! Thanks for leaving a comment…what a totally awesome idea about wedding gowns too! It just seems so silly and wasteful to use something one time and toss it out like a costume!